Thirteen Years Later
by sailormai20
Summary: Quick drabble for Digimon's 13th Anniversary.


Hey, do you remember? It was a long time ago now, thirteen years, if I'm right. Man, those were the days, weren't they? We all wanted to know why we were there, we kept demanding that someone would give us answers, all we ever really knew was that what we see isn't everything. We spent that summer (well, it felt like the whole summer to us) camping, struggling to survive, making new friends and growing. Those crests of ours made us find a whole other side to ourselves, made us find a whole new life. No matter the hardships we went through because of them, I would never give that summer up. Not for anything at all.

Thirteen years is a long time. I still cherish every single one of the memories I made with all of you. The bad ones, well, not so much, but I remember them anyway. After all, without all those bad times, half of our crests wouldn't have activated and I'm pretty sure I would never have opened up to become friends with all of you. Where would I be without you? We met by chance, we had known a lot of tears. I wanted to give you courage, a face with a smile, everything. The Digital World sure has its ups and downs, but so does our world. But we get by, everyday, remembering the strength and hope we gave each other as kids and knowing that, with something as simple as a phone call, we can keep each other strong.

It's strange what one summer can do to a person. I know I didn't outgrow all of my whiny tendencies and still acted a bit like a princess (which of course I'm entitled to do!) but that summer set me up for the rest of my life. I learned more about myself and how my actions affected others. I learned that sincerity, while its great, isn't best served bluntly yet that you still should speak your mind. I don't know how many mistakes I made but I always wanted to give you my heart, pure and simple, so you could understand me when I was being crazy. I may not have to fight evil tyrants in this world, but all the lessons I learnt with you have never failed me. One summer brought courage, friendship, sincerity, love, reliability, hope, knowledge and light into my life and thirteen years later, they still hold my heart.

The crests honestly seemed kinda silly to me at first. I mean, we had this old wrinkly data man who popped up out of nowhere, telling us these traits were what defined us. These things seemed silly, I guess mainly because they were everyday traits. Who didn't have knowledge or love? Once we went our separate ways in the Digital World, I realised how those traits had kept us together as a team, even if we hadn't known it. This was something only we could have done. We had an unknown power and we had to keep going, when it was raining or sunny and eventually we did make it. Sure, those traits made some of us think we were the most knowledgable in that field, but for the most part, as kids randomly thrown into some alternate world, we got along pretty well. While I'm sometimes dismayed that some of us still act like kids thirteen years on, I'm glad that our friendship has never died.

I always felt like I was letting everyone down. Often times I was. That made me feel more useless and I got more clumsy and scared. I was supposed to protect you all, supposed to be the wise leader you could all depend on; I'm the eldest after all. But by the end of that crazy, fateful, unforgettable summer, that honestly didn't matter to me anymore. I'd decided that I'll say goodbye to that coward who lives deep in my heart, and become a little stronger (I think it may have worked, just a little at least). To everyone, it may have seemed that we had a leader, but really, we were a team like no other. Back then, you were my only friends; I have more now, of course, but only because of the things I learnt back then. But still, I can't talk to them like I can with all of you; they don't quite understand. The know what happened (the whole world knows our story now) but they don't _know_. I remember, back then, we used to fight and yell and wrestle each other until we finally understood what we were trying to tell each other. I'm feeling kinda old thirteen years later, but it sure is nice to just look at you guys and have you understand what I'm feeling in a heartbeat.

I hoped for many things when I was a child. A new toy car, a new video game, for mum to buy chocolate icecream for dessert, to see my brother more... In the digital world, those wishes didn't change, because I missed home so much (of course, the wishes then included things like not to be eaten by Kawagamon when I was sleeping and that we'd all be safe). I had to keep running without looking back, I couldn't give into pain whenever I fell over. I didn't have time to show my tears if we wanted to arrive at our hope filled goal! All of our hopes became one in the end; corny as it sounds, so did our hearts. When we finally returned to Odaiba, our adventure was deemed over and I only had one hope. That we'd all still be connected, always until the end of time. Thankfully its not the end of time yet (we still have so many memories to make!); its only been thirteen years, I'm glad that so far, my wish has come true.

I was smarter than all of you. I thought that meant so much more than it actually did. I spent so much time on the internet rather than really being a child that I knew next to nothing about our crest traits. I could define every single one of them and give you a history on how the words had evolved through time, but what did I really know about courage? I knew my mother's love, but being an orphan, I had always had my issues with that. Friendship? Did people I met on the internet to talk geek speak with and never meet in real life count? Even if we cried, even if we laughed, it wouldn't change anything. But we believed. We made it through some crazy times that most people couldn't even fathom. People often say they would go back in time to fix things, but if I went back in time, I'd go back to that summer thirteen years ago, where you all became my family and gave me an amazing future to look forward to.

I wasn't one of you originally. I'm sorry I dragged you down. You never failed to find me and fight for me; you saved me so many times. Without you, I'd probably be in a hospital bed, trying to fight out of the darkness I'd almost trapped myself into. As the Chosen Children, you gave me a purpose and a new lease on life. Common sense felt meaningless - we just needed to truly be ourselves, to follow what we believed in. I made a promise: No matter the time, I'll come to see you wherever you are. Thirteen years later, I'm greatful you still do the same for me.

_Thank you for everything._

* * *

Quick drabble for Digimon's 13th anniversary.  
Used each of my babies (the original Adventure kids) - hope I did okay keeping them in character for thirteen years later! Can you guess who's who?  
Keep the fandom strong guys!


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